Sam Raimi did a curious thing with his big-budget Disney fantasy tentpole release, purportedly a prequel to and reimagining of L. Frank Baum’s classic story turned classic film “The Wizard of Oz.” For one, it was curious enough that Raimi, despite his blockbuster bona fides with the “Spider-Man” trilogy, was chosen for the project. But the director then went the extra step of unquestionably putting his stamp on it by, for all intents and purposes, turning the film into a family friendly remake of his film “Army of Darkness.” Seriously! Picture Bruce Campbell (who pops up in this film in a cameo) in the lead role of charlatan magician Oscar Diggs instead of the perfectly fine James Franco, and you’re more than halfway there.

Franco’s character is a small-time magician in a traveling circus whisked away from the dreary (and black-and-white) landscape of Kansas to the magical land of Oz, where the task falls to him to defeat the wicked witch who has been plaguing the land. Of course, he has no real magical abilities, but mountains of riches and a kingdom are at his disposal if he can just fake it for a while. But he finds himself outmatched by the three witches in the land, Evanora (Rachel Weisz), Theodora (Mila Kunis) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), at least one of whom is very wicked indeed.

The computer-generated landscapes are composed with some flair, if in the same manner as films of this type, like “Alice in Wonderland” or “Avatar,” though “Oz” is better than both of those snoozers, with Raimi’s directoral touches bringing a rather rote screenplay (with at least one shockingly regressive plot point from a feminist perspective) to Technicolor life. “Oz” isn’t that great, but pretty good’s nothing to scoff at, either. $29.99 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray.

“HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS”

Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star in “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters,” a tongue-in-cheek horror-comedy from director Tommy Wirkola (whose previous film, “Dead Snow,” may have been the dullest possible attempt at making a movie about zombie Nazis) and producers Adam McKay and Will Ferrell. Those guys know comedy, but this is an odd, lumbering beast of a movie, occasionally gory, saggy in the middle and full of half measures all around, a splatter-steampunk reimagining of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale seemingly unwilling to commit to any direction it chooses. (It feels like an imitation of Sam Raimi, which, ironically, is what people said of Raimi’s “Oz the Great and Powerful.”)

In this version, Hansel (Renner) and Gretel (Arterton) are adult siblings traveling the Bavarian countryside to hunt down witches and supernatural evildoers, carrying a cadre of witch-slaying weapons and an encyclopedic knowledge of their behavior. This all comes from their childhood imprisonment, but you know that story. The two find themselves overmatched in one village by a particularly strong witch (Famke Janssen) with designs toward making her dark sisters impervious to harm.

Gnarly horror-action ensues, none of which is especially memorable. But all things considered, “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” could have been painful to watch, and this decidedly is not by any means. Compared to “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” this is like “The Rules of the Game.” But, you know, with witches. $30.99 DVD, $37.99 Blu-ray.

“SNITCH”

Dwayne Johnson has starred in a bunch of movies this year already (from franchise movies like “Fast & Furious 6” to…other franchise movies like “G.I. Joe Retaliation”), but hopefully in between those movies, he’ll consider smaller projects like the socially conscious action movie “Snitch,” which, despite sort of muddling its message, showcases a strong performance from the charismatic wrestler-turned-actor, one of his best showings in film yet. It’s certainly more dialed down than his high-watermark performances in things like “The Rundown” and “Pain & Gain,” but the more subdued work here suits him and this film well.

Johnson stars as the owner of a fairly successful construction business jolted suddenly by the arrest of his son on drug trafficking charges. Despite never having dealt drugs before, the young man agreed to receive a package of narcotics and agreed to help distribute them, unaware that the friend he was helping was implicating him to the federal authorities to lighten his own sentence, which is severe, thanks to mandatory minimum sentencing on all offenders. When his son won’t implicate any of his friends, Johnson takes matters into his own hands, and goes undercover for the DA (Susan Sarandon) to expose the higher-up drug traffickers in his area, including the main dealer (Michael K. Williams) and a cartel representative (Benjamin Bratt).

It’s all soapy and hokey, but Johnson and, in a supporting role as his unlikely ally, Jon Bernthal (“The Walking Dead”), give good, salt-of-the-earth performances, so that you’re especially disappointed when the film abandons its character-based center for action-movie clichés as it comes to a close. $29.95 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray.

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“OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL”

Sam Raimi did a curious thing with his big-budget Disney fantasy tentpole release, purportedly a prequel to and reimagining of L. Frank Baum’s classic story turned classic film “The Wizard of Oz.” For one, it was curious enough that Raimi, despite his blockbuster bona fides with the “Spider-Man” trilogy, was chosen for the project. But the director then went the extra step of unquestionably putting his stamp on it by, for all intents and purposes, turning the film into a family friendly remake of his film “Army of Darkness.” Seriously! Picture Bruce Campbell (who pops up in this film in a cameo) in the lead role of charlatan magician Oscar Diggs instead of the perfectly fine James Franco, and you’re more than halfway there.

Franco’s character is a small-time magician in a traveling circus whisked away from the dreary (and black-and-white) landscape of Kansas to the magical land of Oz, where the task falls to him to defeat the wicked witch who has been plaguing the land. Of course, he has no real magical abilities, but mountains of riches and a kingdom are at his disposal if he can just fake it for a while. But he finds himself outmatched by the three witches in the land, Evanora (Rachel Weisz), Theodora (Mila Kunis) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), at least one of whom is very wicked indeed.

The computer-generated landscapes are composed with some flair, if in the same manner as films of this type, like “Alice in Wonderland” or “Avatar,” though “Oz” is better than both of those snoozers, with Raimi’s directoral touches bringing a rather rote screenplay (with at least one shockingly regressive plot point from a feminist perspective) to Technicolor life. “Oz” isn’t that great, but pretty good’s nothing to scoff at, either. $29.99 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray.

“HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS”

Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star in “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters,” a tongue-in-cheek horror-comedy from director Tommy Wirkola (whose previous film, “Dead Snow,” may have been the dullest possible attempt at making a movie about zombie Nazis) and producers Adam McKay and Will Ferrell. Those guys know comedy, but this is an odd, lumbering beast of a movie, occasionally gory, saggy in the middle and full of half measures all around, a splatter-steampunk reimagining of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale seemingly unwilling to commit to any direction it chooses. (It feels like an imitation of Sam Raimi, which, ironically, is what people said of Raimi’s “Oz the Great and Powerful.”)

In this version, Hansel (Renner) and Gretel (Arterton) are adult siblings traveling the Bavarian countryside to hunt down witches and supernatural evildoers, carrying a cadre of witch-slaying weapons and an encyclopedic knowledge of their behavior. This all comes from their childhood imprisonment, but you know that story. The two find themselves overmatched in one village by a particularly strong witch (Famke Janssen) with designs toward making her dark sisters impervious to harm.

Gnarly horror-action ensues, none of which is especially memorable. But all things considered, “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” could have been painful to watch, and this decidedly is not by any means. Compared to “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” this is like “The Rules of the Game.” But, you know, with witches. $30.99 DVD, $37.99 Blu-ray.

“SNITCH”

Dwayne Johnson has starred in a bunch of movies this year already (from franchise movies like “Fast & Furious 6” to…other franchise movies like “G.I. Joe Retaliation”), but hopefully in between those movies, he’ll consider smaller projects like the socially conscious action movie “Snitch,” which, despite sort of muddling its message, showcases a strong performance from the charismatic wrestler-turned-actor, one of his best showings in film yet. It’s certainly more dialed down than his high-watermark performances in things like “The Rundown” and “Pain & Gain,” but the more subdued work here suits him and this film well.

Johnson stars as the owner of a fairly successful construction business jolted suddenly by the arrest of his son on drug trafficking charges. Despite never having dealt drugs before, the young man agreed to receive a package of narcotics and agreed to help distribute them, unaware that the friend he was helping was implicating him to the federal authorities to lighten his own sentence, which is severe, thanks to mandatory minimum sentencing on all offenders. When his son won’t implicate any of his friends, Johnson takes matters into his own hands, and goes undercover for the DA (Susan Sarandon) to expose the higher-up drug traffickers in his area, including the main dealer (Michael K. Williams) and a cartel representative (Benjamin Bratt).

It’s all soapy and hokey, but Johnson and, in a supporting role as his unlikely ally, Jon Bernthal (“The Walking Dead”), give good, salt-of-the-earth performances, so that you’re especially disappointed when the film abandons its character-based center for action-movie clichés as it comes to a close. $29.95 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray.